Here's The Bag Of Tricks New York Uses To Hide Its Crippling Deficit

While New York ignored creative accounting that led to the financial crisis, the state was busy hiding its own debt.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report that suggests the deficit could be much higher than the reported $9 billion. At this point, no one knows:

“New York needs to stop playing games with the deficit,” DiNapoli said. “The state dips into dedicated funds here and shifts money over there, all to cover cash shortfalls and avoid making the difficult decisions needed to align spending with revenues. The end result is the state’s real fiscal condition is impossible to pin down. Every time the game is played, taxpayers lose."

To lessen the general fund deficit, the state borrowed money from dedicated funds for highways, veterans, and everything else.

If something is broken or decrepit in New York, you can bet it's funding has gone to the debt furnace.